Winter weather and the harsh driving conditions that come with it can be hard on trucks, but Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America suggests that downtime can be minimized with proper maintenance procedures.

Today's wire harnesses are pretty darn good compared to systems of the past. Fleets have options they have never had before, from sealed male 7-way connectors to sealed cable systems to sealed nose boxes

The American Trucking Associations' Technology & Maintenance Council has created nine new task forces that will meet for the first time at TMC's 2012 Fall Meeting, Sept. 10-13 in Pittsburgh, covering topics such as tires, corrosion, CSA and visibility

It used to be when you turned the vehicle off, all electrical loads went away. Now that today's trucks use electronics full time, including the extra hotel loads for driver comfort, these electrical loads (parasitic loads) increase the demands on the vehicle electrical system

Diesel particulate filters trap soot from the exhaust and ash from motor oil. Most soot is burned off in the course of a truck's operations, but ash stays in the filter's honeycomb substrate and is removed through periodic servicing.

Many fleets have discovered in recent months that you can't put 10 pounds of rocks into a 5-pound bag. Pushing trade cycles for highway trucks to squeeze a few more months or a year out of an asset may seem feasible, but the unplanned costs can eat you alive

With limited opportunity to walk the Mid-America Trucking Show due to the number of press conferences and the vast number of exhibitors, it was gratifying indeed to turn up an innovative new technology that could transform a fleet's tire maintenance

"I don't know if there are more truck fires today or just that, now, they are catastrophic when they happen," says Bruce Purkey of Purkey's Fleet Electric. He's a major contributor to the efforts of the Technology and Maintenance Counci

Is ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel causing rust in steel fuel tanks? A shop foreman in Georgia believes that the relatively new fuel, or perhaps biodiesel blends, are to blame for the damaged saddle tanks he's seen in the last yea

As we head into winter, springtime may seem far away. But it's the aftereffects of winter's messy roads and de-icing compounds that lead to one of the sounds of spring: drivers complaining about their fifth wheels

Normal service for a big truck virtually guarantees that it will feel and show the effects of age long before you're ready to deal it. That means even the cab of the truck is going to require a little maintenanc